Love at Seventh Sight
by belaying
Summary: Ronald, a struggling mechanical engineer student, works in a coffee shop with a co-worker that just laughs at him constantly, a boss who is usually off shopping, and now some bloke from the business across the street has come into the picture.


Sometimes people talk about falling in love at first sight; however, Ronald Knox, in his whole 21 years of existence never believed in that saying, but right now he was questioning himself.

"Who's that?" Ronald asked his co-worker as he quickly topped off the current order of a small milk hot chocolate with whip cream and chocolate shavings.

Eric Slingby scratched his head between the dark cornrows, and tossed his blond locks on the left side of his head to the side so he could look toward the door, "Who's who?" he asked as he swiped a young lady's credit card.

Ronald set to go cup up on the counter, "Small milk hot chocolate," and flashed a bright, but fake smile at the mild aged women who took it before looking to Eric, "Tall bloke, in the fancy coat, just walked in," and he began to work on the next order, a vanilla latte with no foam.

The male was in cliché terms, tall, dark, and handsome. His dark hair slicked back, his suit clearly a custom Anderson & Sheppard, and glasses covering steal blue eyes to top off the whole smart but mysterious feel. "Oh, that's right you had class Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays last semester when he comes in but that's William T. Spears. I only know from the signature on his card. Anyway, he works over at that business building across the street." Eric explained in a hushed tone, not to be overheard by the girls, well, customers in the café.

Ronald recalled the building across from them was some major marketing firm, run by some over dramatic man who dressed up as an undertaker last Halloween. The Undertaker even got a segment on the news to announce the launch of McVities Biscuits bone shaped biscuits to the local hospitals, as some sort of marketing research, or whatever. The idea did become a big hit, though, around the world even, and he had to admit they were not all that bad.

"And he comes to our, basically Japan host club of a coffee shop, to get his probably black coffee?" Ronald asked in a laugh, and a little to loudly over the electronic noise caused by the blender as he finished up making a smoothie.

"I happen to come to this establishment because it is the closest one on my way to my office, and I happen to be acquainted with the owner," came a voice behind the counter, and Ronald practically dropped the bag of chocolate covered coffee beans he was pouring currently into a container in surprise as the smoothie blended. He did vaguely remember his boss, Grell, had said his inspiration for the café, creatively named, "Class With Glasses," had come from some businessman he had met back in university. It also explained why every employee had been fitted with a pair of stylish glasses, and wore white shirts with a thin black tie tucked into black pants.

"Sorry, sir, we just don't see many… males in here," Ronald explained as he ignored Eric's laughter. He motioned around them to emphasize his point before continuing on the order he had been filling, eyeing William some.

William removed his wallet, taking out a platinum card, and handed it to Eric, "Two Black Tie drinks," and then he glanced to Ronald, their eyes met, and he continued coldly with "I am aware."

Ronald looked away, saying nothing expect the names of orders and continued to flash fake smiles. When William's order was up he placed them up on the counter silently, and didn't smile just observed Will's face. He simply took the coffees and walked off, no eye contact, not even a small glance.

Ronald frowned, suddenly wishing he had taken Monday, Wednesday, and Friday classes again, and told himself that love at first sight is a joke.

* * *

Ronald did not have the pleasure of running into William a second time till Wednesday night at 9 p.m., which was also the cafés closing time, since he had not worked that morning. Ronald was hunched over one of his many engineering textbooks at one of the tables, hand clutching the back of his head, fingers tangled in the locks just as his hair blended from blond to black.

"Staring at it won't make ya learn it," Eric mocked him as he dried off the counters.

Ronald frowned, glaring at Eric, "Yeah, well, you try to understand mechatronics," and he tossed his pencil at Eric who was laughing, but when the door opened the both went silent and glanced toward it.

William stood there, wearing another stupid expensive suit, "Can we help you Mr…?" Ronald asked, pretending not to know his name already.

"William T. Spears, and yes, Mr. Sutcliff and I have an appointment."

"Will, is that you?" a voice from the back called out, and the sound of four inch heels on the floor louder with each second before a red head appeared in the doorway, striking a pose, "Hello there darling,"

Ronald rolled his eyes and sighed. Grell shot him a venomous glare from behind his red framed glasses, wiping his flour covered hands off on his apron before removing it, to reveal his pale pink dress shirt tucked into black slacks, "You know Ronnie dear, isn't it past your bedtime?"

"And isn't it about time you find more practical clothing to bake in? Really you're 25 you should've discovered this already. I should get going though since I do not want to stay around to see whatever… this is," Ronald announced, and began to pack up his backpack, "Eric, walk with me?" and Ronald made sure not to look at William once.

Eric, who Ronald observed was clearing suppressing a laugh, nodded, and said, "I'm just gonna grab my things from the back," and he disappeared from sight making Ronald instantly feel uncomfortable.

"Right, Grell, if we could begin to work on your new marketing plan that would be great. I would like to be home before midnight if at all possible," William said simply and approached a table, setting his suitcase down.

Grell nodded, approaching the table and sat across from him, "This is going to be so booooring."

That's when Ronald lost it; he was not as good as Eric at holding back a laugh.

William eyed him, mimicking Ronald from minutes before, "Is something funny Mr…?"

"Knox, Ronald Knox and no, nothing sorry," he had honestly thought Grell and this up tight ass were together, and was having trouble figuring out a how and why. Boy was he way off, and luckily he did not need to explain what was funny.

"Ready?" Eric called out as he left the backroom and headed straight to the door, oblivious to anything that had happened.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow Grell, don't have too much fun." Ronald shouted over his shoulder as he followed Eric out the door and could only hear Grell letting out a frustrated groan in response. He blocked out any reasoning behind why he might have been jealous of Grell if him and this William character had been together, as Eric slung an arm around his shoulder and dragged him off toward a bar. There was no such thing as love at second sight.

* * *

The third time Ronald had the pleasure of meeting William was more on a casual base, but really the worst so far.

It was pouring rain and Ronald, alone at the counter, was reading over his advance quantum physics text book, since there was a grand total of two girls sipping their cocoa, as they debated heading back out into the rain, or, waiting to see if the rain would light up. Eric had dipped into the back to make a phone call to his boyfriend, Alan Humphries, who was an exchange university professor in the States this semester. Eric was constantly worrying that even though Alan's kidney cancer had been in remission for months now that it would come back.

Ronald had been so absorbed in his book; he didn't even hear the door to the shop open.

"Ahem."

Ronald's hazel eyes snapped up in surprise, "Shit, you gave me a fright," he whispered breathlessly in relief since it was just William.

"Physics?" William questioned, motioning to the book.

Ronald nodded, biting his lip some nervously, "Um, yeah, homework due tonight." And he felt William's heavy gaze on him, making his heart rate increase as if he was running a marathon.

William nodded, "That is admirable of you, being so ambitious to work on homework due in probably four hours even while on the clock…"

"Sorry I didn't welcome you into the shop and immediately ask for you order, who are you? My professor? My Mum? I may have put off writing out the work for the problems, since I prefer to do equations with a calculator and my own brain, for a week now, but I'm going to get the assignment done. Now, what do you want to order?" Ronald snapped, holding out his hand and William placed his credit card into Ronald's hand.

"A Black Tie."

Ronald nodded, swiping the card, made sure the payment cleared, and handed it back to him before beginning on the drink, watching the girls leave and tried to avoid thinking about the fact William and he were alone now.

It didn't work, thoughts focused on William, feeling his stare. Ronald's hand slipped and he touched the metal hot pan. Hissing in pain as he pulled his hand to his chest, and swore, "Mother fucker!"

William immediately walked around and behind the counter, "Let me see."

Reluctantly, Ronald extended his hand, "I'm not a child, I can take care of it…"

William gingerly looked over the burn, "You are a child compared to me."

"I'm 21, and how old are you, like 25?" he asked, assuming he would be probably the same age as Grell.

"27," William corrected with a small, annoyed, raise of his eyebrows.

Ronald rolled his eyes, "Hardly that much older."

"Old enough, Knox."

"Old enough for what? To tend to me like I'm a crying 12 year old or…?" Ronald asked, with a smirk. It was his turn to embarrass William, and he also somewhat wanted to see William's pale skin tinted pink but he wouldn't admit that.

William hesitated briefly as he looked around, spotted the first aid kit under the counter, grabbed it, and began wrapping bandages around Ronald's hand, "Too much older."

"Yeah," Ronald huffed, "you're clearly old, and I can already see you forming grey hairs."

With that William finished up and walked back around the counter, retrieving his suitcase from where he had left it on the ledge, "You should see a doctor tomorrow," and he left.

Love at third sight, as if there was any such thing, was also proven false.

* * *

When Ronald ran into William the fourth time, it was a week after the burning incident. He had taken William's advice, and went to see a doctor. The doctor had given him some burn cream, even though Ronald insisted it wasn't a serious injury, Grell apparently heard differently from William first. Resulting in Ronald taking a week off work. He had spent the week torn between being happy, since he did not have to work, and angry being at William, for getting him off of work.

Ronald was walking the drinks and pastries over to a table; one of the two girls had a broken leg, and was on crutches, so Ronald offered to serve their food and beverages, instead of having the girls pick them up from the counter. He was focusing on not spilling the mochas, so, naturally, he was looking down at the tray. He was not expecting William to walk in front of him, and certainly not expecting to collide with William. The mochas, he had been focusing so hard on not spilling, now dripped down the front of both of them, and one of the strawberry filled pastries decorated William's suit jacket with frosting and red gel. The tray, the other pastry, and the coffee mugs fell to floor, mugs shattering and Ronald stood their, arms open, eyes wide in shock. He had just spilled coffee all over another, probably ridiculously, expensive suit.

"UT, I'll have to called you back," William said into his cellphone, hanging up, "Honestly, Knox…"

Ronald's jaw dropped in confusion, suppressing a laugh from how absurd this was, seriously a situation he only ever saw on television shows like, "The Office."

"Me? You were talking on your phone, and clearly didn't see me walking with a giant tray. This is not all my fault!" Ronald argued, ignoring Eric's low chuckle in the otherwise silent café, vaguely aware of some cellphones recording this. Great, with his luck, he and William would be a YouTube sensation.

"Maybe," William began, adjusting his glasses that had slipped down his nose in the collision, "If you paid more attention all of the time you would not burn yourself or run into people."

Ronald snapped, leaning down he grabbed the pastry from the floor, and shoved it in William's face, "Why don't you eat something sweet and learn how to be nice." And with that he headed to the back room, grabbing his bag, threw his dirty coffee covered apron on the floor, and left through the back door.

Love at fourth sight, that didn't happen either.

* * *

The fifth time Ronald encountered William was before opening, the day after the video of Ronald shoving a strawberry filled treat in William's face did end up going viral from a video Eric uploaded.

"Will you please stop watching that?" Ronald asked Eric, looking to see Eric, and Grell staring at the laptop screen.

Eric smiled at him, "It's bloody brilliant though."

Grell nodded in agreement, his fingers running through his long hair, "William needs to loosen up anyway, I would've paid anything to see this in person. Damn why did I plan my hair appointment yesterday?"

"Yeah well, you've watched it four times in a row now," Ronald said with a roll of his eyes, and the front door opened, all three of them looked up to see William staring at them.

"I have the bill for my dry cleaning, but given your current predicament of being a student and working a minimum wage job… Also, you were not completely out of line with your actions, as unnecessary as they were, I will not expect you to pay it."

Ronald raised his eyebrows, "Did you come all the way here to tell me I don't have to pay a cleaning bill?"

"Certainly not, I thought I would just share that, and drop off the finished marketing plan with Grell. In addition, I would like to ask to go out with you, Mr. Knox, for dinner tonight." William explained.

"Wait," Ronald said quickly, as if he didn't hear him right, "Dinner?"

"Do not read into it much Knox, my employer believes it to be in the company's best interest for certain people to see us in public together, given the current state of that video."

"William!" Grell said quickly and stood, looking between them at Ronald's hurt expression, "Please leave." Hell has no fury like an upset Grell Sutcliff.

William set a folder, probably the marketing plan, and a business card on a table, "My contact information Knox," he said, tapping the card, and then he left.

Ronald immediately moved forward and snapped up the card, love at fifth sight wasn't real either of course, but when he looked to the card he turned it over, to see the words, "text me." A number different from the number on the front was scribbled by the words.

* * *

It took Ronald three days to text the number, resulting in their sixth conversation, only because William had stopped coming to the shop.

"You didn't have to stop coming to the shop completely you know. Grell really isn't that angry," Ronald texted and awaited the reply impatiently, literally counting the seconds.

90 seconds later Ronald's phone buzzed, and he immediately read William's response: "I assume this is you Knox and I am aware I can come to the establishment at my own leisure; however, given the fact I am currently in the city of New York on business I imagine that to be quite impossible."

Ronald sighed in relief, replying with, "Good. I wasn't as upset as Grell may have made it sound. Just surprised, but when you do return to London I will go out to eat with you. As long as I can choose where we go. If we have to go out to clear your name I would rather go someplace where I know I'll like the food."

As he awaited William's response he couldn't help but smile to himself, and his smile only widened into a proud Cheshire grin when he read William's next response, "Fine, I return in two days they day after we shall go out. I believe you work that night till 6. I will meet you at the café and expect you to come up with reservations and such but we will be taking my vehicle."

Ronald wondered how William knew his work schedule, but wrote it off as something he probably learned from working with Grell on that marketing stuff.

"Will do, and wear comfy clothing as in not a suit, not even a business casual outfit. Just wear normal casual clothes this time. I don't want to ruin anymore expensive clothes of yours."

All right, so, they didn't meet in person, but it was their best conversation so far. It still didn't count as love at sixth sight though.

* * *

When they met the seventh time it was three days later at exactly 6 p.m. Ronald had just left the backroom after changing into boot cut jeans, and a white t-shirt with a blue zip up sweater over top of it. He looked up just in time to watch as William walked in, wearing loose fitting dark wash jeans and an expensive looking black sweater.

Damn did William look good; Ronald had been almost convinced that William in the suit was hot enough, but William in a sweater that clung to his body, and jeans where you could almost actually see the shape of his everything, yes, he looked good.

He left William's eyes raking him over and wondered what thoughts were going through his head, but when Grell walked out and looked to William, poking him in the chest with a well manicured long red finger nail, "you better be on your best behavior tonight, and treat Ronald like a human being even if this is just for publicity."

"Grell, really, it'll be fine. I have an nice night planned out for us," Ronald said, looping his arm with Will's, and walking out the door before Grell could say anything else. Again, he could slightly hear Eric chuckling in the background, and tried to pretend he didn't notice someone take a picture of them.

Once outside, Ronald let William lead him to his sleek black car, "Whoa, is this a 2013 model of the Volkswagen Sedan?" Ronald asked once inside and looking around.

"Yes, company issued. The company I work for works with Volkswagen, and we were given the cars as a tool for marketing."

"Shit, I'm jealous. I would love to look into one of these babies and see how they work," Ronald stated, rubbing his hands together, like it would be the most delicious treat.

William started the car, smiling faintly. Ronald noticed the smile, but before he could comment on it William asked, "Where are we going?"

"To a pub downtown. Best grub in all of London there I swear. It's run by a friend of mine, Sophie Smith, she kinda has a crush on me, and, if you're using me for publicity, you get to be my pretend boyfriend for the night. Don't worry though, I won't actually say you are my date, but maybe she'll just assume..." Ronald said with a grin.

William glanced at him as he began to drive, "Where do I drive?"

"A left at the next stoplight, then a right after that, and we continue straight for 3 minutes and about 32 seconds, then we'll be there," Ronald explained, looking out the window.

William followed his instructions, and he watched the clock after taking the right, they arrived in 3 minutes and about 30 seconds, "How did you know when we would arrive in that amount of time?"

"Simple, Eric and I walk here after work sometimes, and I simply converted the time it usually takes us to walk driving at the speed limit," Ronald explained.

Ronald watched him, waiting for a response, but William only nodded and got out of the car, Ronald sighed following him inside.

The inside of the pub was a rich dark brown with wooden stools at the bar, and tables lined the walls that had old pictures hanging from them. Ronald didn't hesitate to move to a table immediately. A girl with brown hair, tinted red somewhat was braided and wrapped into a bun, two strands of hair falling into her face on either side walked over to them.

"Ronald!" She said cheerily, "It's nice to see you and your…"

Before William could response with whatever he was going to say, be it friend, acquaintance, or even this-kid-I-have-to-go-out-with-to-clear-my-name, Ronald answered, "This is William."

"Well, it is a pleasure to meet you William," Sophie said with a smile, placing down two menus, "can I start you off with any drinks?"

"Yeah, I'll have a bottle of Newkie Brown," Ronald stated, "And so will he."

William was about to object but Sophie smiled, catching onto what Ronald was doing and walked away.

Ronald just smiled at him, wanting to change the topic before Will could question him, "So, why did you ask about the time thing?"

"You are very smart Knox, with numbers, I have to admit I was impressed."

"Oh," was all Ronald managed and he looked over the menu even though he was planning on getting what he always got in an attempt to have his blush be hidden.

Luckily Sophie returned with their drinks, setting them down, and two more people walked into the pub, "I'll give you a couple more minutes to make up your minds." And she walked away.

"Know what you want?" Ronald asked and William just nodded, an awkward silence then lingered between them till Sophie returned, "So, know what you would like?"

"Yeah, the lemon and garlic roast chicken," Ronald said softly, looking to William, who stated, "I would like the same."

Sophie raised her eyebrow before giving them another small smile, "We'll get right on your order." Then she walked off.

"Did I do something to upset you?" Ronald asked then, "Besides shoving a frosted covered pastry in your face I mean."

William hesitated to answer, and Ronald hoped it was because he truly had something good to say, "No, you did not. I usually do not interact with others well and I stereotyped you but you have proven me wrong. I am actually quite intrigued by you."

"Me?" Ronald asked, blushing more than he could control this time.

"Yes, as I said you are smart and well spoken."

Ronald nodded, sipping his beer, and said as he set it back on the table, "And I am really not that much younger than you."

And Ronald could've sworn he saw the ghost of a smile grace William's lips, "No, you are not."

Their food soon arrived and Ronald managed to make William let out a small laugh, by how Ronald had a certain way of eating the chicken, by pulling the skin off and saving it for last.

"I'm saving it for last, it's the best part," Ronald explained, his voice laced with a, "duh," tone.

William continued to watch him pull the skin off and took a bite of his own chicken, skin and all, "The point Knox, is to eat it all together"

Ronald just smiled and said back to him, "Sometimes the best things are the things you have to wait for."

Before Ronald knew it dinner was over, and they were outside Ronald's flat complex, "So, I hope you had some fun, did your camera guy get enough pictures?"

"He stopped tailing us at the restaurant so I assume so, and don't worry, the pictures are only going to be shared with the other board members and some of the business we work with."

Ronald tilted his head to the side, narrowing his eyes, "if he stopped following us at the restaurant you didn't need to bring me home."

"Is that not that the proper thing to do when one goes out and drives? Besides I wanted to," William explained

"You wanted to?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Now it was William's turn to blush, but it was so faint Ronald wasn't sure in the night light if he really did or not. Carefully, he cradled William's cheek in his hand, stood on the balls of his feet, and kissed William softly. They both stayed still, and Ronald pulled back after three seconds, only to find William chasing his lips so he kissed him again. The kiss was kept sweet as their mouths fit together, lips molding against the others. When Ronald did finally break the kiss, he looked over William's face, seeing a genuine smile form on the older male's lips, and Ronald whispered, "Maybe seven is a lucky number."


End file.
